


21st Century People

by UnicornAttack



Category: Original Work
Genre: Break Up, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-19
Updated: 2013-01-19
Packaged: 2017-11-26 01:47:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 811
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/645185
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UnicornAttack/pseuds/UnicornAttack
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Despite what his boyfriend might like to think, Dan isn't stupid.</p>
            </blockquote>





	21st Century People

“You can’t do this to me, Dan.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because we’ve been together for fifteen fuckin years! That’s why not!”

Dan finishes his drink and places the empty glass on the table. He stares at Billy.

“So?” he asks calmly. “You’re successful now. You don't need me to play puppet master anymore.”

“Are we really going to do this again? Right now?” Billy snaps.

“Yes, we are. We both know why you ended up with me in the first place. There’s no point in keeping this shit up any longer.”

Billy sits back, looking agitated. He runs a hand through his dark hair. He doesn’t say anything, and neither does Dan; the ensuing silence between them lasts at least two minutes. At some point, a young man with wonky glasses, bad hair and a lisp shuffles over to their table and quietly asks for Dan’s autograph. Dan obliges, and the young man thanks him, says “I loved your latht film”, and shuffles away again.

“I think...that we ought to think about this,” Billy says finally.

“I’ve been thinking about it for the last ten years. I’m sorry, Bill.”

“There is nothing wrong with our relationship!”

Dan looks up at Billy and laughs scornfully.

“Jesus Christ, Billy! Are you kidding me? You were only ever with me because you wanted to make it in the film industry. I was only ever with you because I was so miserable being handcuffed to that bitch.”

‘That bitch’ was Dan’s ex-wife, Helen, who had found out about the relationship in 2007. Their divorce had been finalised two months later. Dan still got to see their kids, but he was painfully aware of how much Loren, his older child, resented him for betraying her mother. Somehow, the media never found out about the affair.

“Danny, come on. Don’t be like this. I love you.”

Billy’s giving Dan a ‘pity-poor-me’, kicked-puppy look. Normally, it works, but this time it just leaves Dan with a hollow feeling in his stomach.

“Don’t bother,” he says coldly. “And there are several things that are very fucking wrong indeed with our relationship.”

“Like what?” Billy demands.

“If we had a normal, healthy relationship, Bill, we’d be living together. People would know about it. You wouldn’t be shagging all those models and actresses to cover yourself. This is a stupid fucking charade and we both know it. I’m not putting up with it anymore.”

He stands up and walks away. He can sense Billy watching him go, but he doesn’t turn around.

 

Billy tries to call him twice that night. Both times, Dan lets it go to answerphone. The first message is Billy shouting, no, screaming at him angrily, telling him he’s an idiot. The second message comes half an hour later. This time he's a lot calmer, pleading with Dan to give it one last chance. Dan doesn't take the bait and call him back. That, in his mind, would mean letting the bastard win.

The next morning, he wakes up and remembers what happened the previous day. Instead of regret, which is what he had expected to be the overwhelming emotion, he feels almost elated—he’s finally free of that freeloading bastard. He wants desperately to tell someone, and then remembers that only four people knew about the relationship in the first place: him and Billy themselves, Helen, and Omar, his usual DP. So he merely contents himself with a victory lap of his flat before collapsing on his sofa, out of breath but feeling so ALIVE for once. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he hears Omar, speaking in his broad Yorkshire accent: “We’re all 21st century people, whether we like it or not. That includes you, Danny-boy. You’re too caught up in pleasin the critics and appeasin the media and maintainin that dead-end little relationship with Bryant—and dear god, what I wouldn’t give to punch that insufferable prick in the stomach—to understand that life is too fuckin short to worry about pleasin everyone else.”

At the time, Dan had wanted to smack him for calling his relationship with Billy ‘dead-end’, as well as claiming he tailored his films for the critics. Only now does he realise that Omar had been absolutely right. It’s mid-April, a bit late (or early?) for New Year’s Resolutions, but Dan makes one anyway, something he hasn't done since 1982, when he was fourteen. In one instant he promises to never let his eagerness to please get in the way of his professional life or private life again. It feels like a weight being lifted from his shoulders.

_I don’t have to prove myself to anyone_ , he thinks. And, lying on his battered sofa in nothing but a dressing gown at seven o’clock in the morning while the rain hammers on the window, Dan Harper begins to laugh.

**Author's Note:**

> This was a somewhat cathartic experience. Sorry if it's a bit soppy. I'm a little embarrassed, but hey, it's here now.


End file.
